Steps in career planning:Self-awareness – exploring and structuring information about oneself, in order to develop the self concept;Educational and occupational exploration – collecting information about educational and occupational opportunities;Career decision – selecting an option among different possibilities;Personal promotion – implies the systematization and presentation of the information concerning abilities, interests, educational and professional experiences in order to achieve different career goals.

Self-awareness represents a fundamental component within the career planning process, the first step in this process.

Interests

Values

Personality

Skills/Abilities

Definition: Interests represent a person’s crystallized preferences for certain areas of knowledge or activity.

Interests development (due to genetic factors and learning opportunities):-parents’ or educators’ rewarding for the activities performed by the student determines a preference for that activity;-the student’s easiness in performing an activity leads to choosing that activity to the prejudice of an activity that requires effort;-the familiarity with certain materials and instruments determines a preference for their utilization.

Types of interests (Holland, 1979)

The preference for objects

Realistic Investigational

Conventional Artistic

Entrepreneurship Social

The preference for ideas

The preference for inform

ation/data

Preferinţa pentru oameni

Realistic Interests: are shaped by a tendency to aim at activities that involve objects’, machines’ and tools’ manipulation (e.g. operator, civil engineer);

Investigative Interests: suppose an interests in research, in different types of investigation and in various domains - social, biological, cultural etc. (e.g. chemist, mathematician);

Artistic Interests: are characterized by an interest in less structured activities, that suppose a creative solution and offer the opportunity for personal manifestation - poetry, painting, music, design (e.g. poet, sculptor).

Social Interests: involve activities that require interpersonal relations (e.g. teacher, counselor);

Entrepreneurship Interests: reflect the preference for activities related to initiative and opportunity to coordinate their own activities or group activities (e.g. sales agent, manager);

Conventional Interests: imply the preference for activities that require systematic and orderly handling of data or objects in a well organized and defined space (e.g. librarian, clerk).

Definition: The values are an individual’s fundamental beliefs about what is important in life, interpersonal relations and work .

Values related to work: General Values: the values related to work derive from

the general values, but they may also represent a source of the general values;

Intrinsic Values: represent those beliefs that motivate individual behavior, independent of an external reward (e.g. autonomy, professional competence);

Extrinsic Values: they motivate the individual’s behavior by external rewards that can be obtained at the end of an activity (e.g. prestige, status, financial benefits);

! Values have a direct influence on: Career decision Adaptation to the requirements of the

occupational /educational environment Cognitive (academic / professional) satisfaction.

Definition: The ability represents the individual’s potential to learn and to achieve performance in a particular area.

Observation: In order to achieve a superior performance in an activity, the students must demonstrate:

-the capacity of acquiring knowledge and operating with it (abilities);

-declarative and procedural knowledge that have been already acquired (capacities);

-efficient operation with knowledge (skills) Skills and transferable abilities – those which, although they

were acquired within specific activities, may be used in accomplishing different tasks and activities.

Personality characteristics: represent the individual’s typical ways of thinking, behavior, affectivity / emotion and relationship.

Personality characteristics are just one of the important aspects related to career decisions.

Exploring the Professional and Educational Routes refers to the systematic collection of information on educational opportunities and occupations (specific educational requirements for a job, hiring perspectives etc.).

Exploration sources: Printed materials: brochures, flyers, occupational

profiles, newspapers and magazines. Computer systems. Audiovisual materials.

◦ Career decision represents the process leading to the selection of one career alternative among the many ones available in a certain moment.

The Components of the Career Decision The Context of the Decision

The context of the decision– What decision am I going to take?

2. The decision process – How am I going to take this decision?

The Decision ProcessA. Defining the decision and identifying the alternatives

B. Exploration and Evaluation of the alternatives

C. Career Plan

E. Reassessment of the decision

D.Decision Implementation

Personal Promotion includes the ways in which a person systematizes and displays information about his/her abilities, interests, educational and professional experiences in order to achieve certain career goals.

Personal Promotion

Instrumental Component

Curriculum vitaeLetter of applicationPersonal Portfolio

Attitudinal Component

Assertive CommunicationDevelopment of the contact network

Preparation for the job interview